Chizik: Labeling Fairley dirty is ‘absurd’

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. (AP) - Nick Fairley’s coaches rose to his defense on Friday, insisting that Auburn’s star defensive tackle is a clean player on the field and a fun-loving character off it.

A day after Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas said Fairley has made “a lot of dirty plays,” coach Gene Chizik called the notion that the Lombardi Award winner is a dirty player “absurd.”

“It’s real simple. You have a 315-pound defensive tackle and you can’t block him, sometimes he’s going to be very aggressive and people are going to get hurt,” Chizik said. “We don’t want that. We don’t want to see anybody get hurt. But when you can’t block a guy that’s 315 pounds, that happens.”

It’s a reputation that has followed Fairley somewhat since midseason after he bodyslammed several quarterbacks, including Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett and LSU’s Jordan Jefferson in consecutive weeks. He has knocked Mallett, Jefferson and Georgia’s Aaron Murray out of the game at least temporarily with hard hits.

Earlier in the Georgia game, he planted his helmet into Murray from behind and was flagged for a late hit. The Southeastern Conference didn’t suspend him for spearing, but Commissioner Mike Slive did admonish the Tigers. And Fairley’s reputation also took a hit.

“We don’t teach that,” said Auburn defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, a former Outland Trophy and Lombardi winner as an Auburn lineman. “Nothing’s been dirty. The only play that’s been dirty, the commissioner pointed it out to us and we understood that. That was the play against Georgia. He hit him in the back late, we got the penalty. Solved. That’s fine.

“He plays within the defense and one thing we know is that he plays hard. If there’s something wrong with playing hard, you shouldn’t be playing football.”

The “dirty player” claims came to the forefront again following comments from Thomas on Thursday.

“Yeah, we saw he has a lot of dirty plays throwing people around after the plays,” Thomas said. “That’s just football.”

He added, “I’m not really worried about it because it is a physical game. If it happens, it happens. You’ve got to get back up and be ready for the play.”

Clean or dirty, one thing that’s hard to dispute: Fairley has been one of college football’s most dominant defensive linemen this season. He was named SEC defensive player of the year by The Associated Press, though league coaches honored LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson instead, perhaps more backlash.

Fairley set an Auburn record with 21 tackles for loss and can break the season sacks record of 11 with one on Monday night. The 6-foot-5 junior has emerged as a possible Top 10 NFL draft pick after showing flashes of star potential in his first season with the Tigers.

“He was underrated after last year because nobody knew who he was coming in, but I saw him in games last year,” Auburn middle linebacker Josh Bynes said. “I’m right behind him and I see things that are outrageous. That’s what he does this year. He just wasn’t as consistent with it.”